Toolie's Biking and Building Blog

Christmas 2012

Dear Friends,

It’s Christmas Eve and again this procrastinator is just now getting around to writing the Christmas letter. So I’m not late, yet. Here’s this year’s update.

My health has been good this year. All of my cancer follow-up screenings have yielded good results. I never tire of those good reports. My ankle has healed well after 2011’s little oopsie that resulted in screws and plates. The only health SNAFU is that due to some complications, I had to have surgery in October to convert my ostomy from temporary to permanent, which though not unexpected, was earlier than I had planned. Surgery went very well but it has taken a good six to eight weeks to recover and I’m still not 100%. The upside is that I’ve lost almost 15 pounds. It’s not the recommended weight loss method but hey, I’ll take it.

The kittens—Eeyore, Tigger, and Roo—have grown up into cats. They’re still skittish and won’t dare show their faces whenever anyone comes to visit, but they are quite cute when it’s just us. I’m enjoying having little buddies at home to greet me and keep me company. And I sometimes see little glimpses of Kelly and WOC in their behavior.

Roo

Eeyore

Tigger

I continued to volunteer and fundraise this year with the Fuller Center. I decided to try again and rode as part of the Fuller Center Bike Adventure and cycled from Daytona Beach to Key West during the last week in June. This ride was certainly flatter than last year’s ride from Columbus to DC but we were pummeled by Tropical Storm Debby for the first three days. But the ride through the Keys was really a lot of fun and I spent a couple of days after the ride was over to explore Key West. The money I raised through the ride was used in this year’s Legacy Build in La Florida, Peru. I spent a week in Peru in September building masonry houses. I was able to sponsor two of the ten homes built and one of those two was made possible through the Bike Adventure funds. It was a wonderful week spent with great friends, old and new, and at the end, ten very deserving families had new, simple, safe, decent, affordable homes to call their own. And I got to make friends with my little buddy, Difreth. If I could have taken him home with me, I would have, but luckily he has a wonderful, loving family in Peru.